Harbormen set sail on another Super Eight mission

BOYS HOCKEY: Fueled by the memory of the late Garrett Reagan, Hingham will look to overcome its traditional first-game woes when it faces Central Catholic on Sunday at Tsongas Arena in Lowell.

Eric McHugh

Back on Feb. 19, Hingham High School boys hockey coach Tony Messina was standing in the hallway of the Falmouth Ice Arena, a slice of pizza in one hand and the championship plaque of the Cape Cod Classic tournament cradled under his other arm. He was sharing a laugh with Falmouth coach Buddy Ferreira about a mutual friend.

Messina’s Harbormen had just blanked Ferreira’s Clippers in a title game that went against the grain of recent history. Falmouth had never made its own tournament final; Hingham hadn’t been there since 2001.

Ferreira insisted that Garrett Reagan had something to do with ending those two droughts.

Reagan, the beloved Hingham coach, was a driving force in the tournament and likely would have been in the stands watching this year after retiring from the Harbormen bench. Reagan, who died of a heart attack in June at age 67, didn’t get to see his dream final, but maybe he put in a good word with the Hockey Man Upstairs.

“Tony,” Ferreira said with a laugh, “(Reagan) set it up. He was part of it. How much clout does that guy have to get the two of us in the final?”

If Reagan really is pulling the strings from up on high this season, the Harbormen might just be hoisting the Super Eight tournament silverware at TD Banknorth Garden on March 15.

That would be a fitting, fairy tale ending to a Hingham season that began on the saddest of notes.

“After Garrett Reagan passed,” senior forward Brendan Wilbur said, “we all came together as a family.”

A family on a mission.

Said junior defenseman Ryan Driscoll: “It gave us something more to play for than just a championship, more reason to win the Super Eight.”

Before Hingham (15-2-5) can dream big, though, it has to think small. As in, just win a tournament game – something the Harbormen couldn’t do in 2007 (when they missed the Super Eight) or 2008 (when they went 0-3 as a No. 2 seed).

This year, Hingham is the No. 4 seed in the state’s premier high school hockey tourney and is grouped with No. 1 Catholic Memorial (10-4-4), No. 5 Central Catholic (15-0-7) and No. 8 Winchester (15-4-1) in Bracket 1. The Harbormen open the round-robin stage Sunday against Central Catholic at Tsongas Arena in Lowell at 5:30 p.m.

Hingham has been a regular in the Super Eight, qualifying for the seventh time in eight years. But Messina is quick to note that the Harbormen have stumbled out of the gate, going 1-5 in their last six tournament openers.

That’s why, before his team practiced at Pilgrim Arena on Thursday, Messina directed a visitor’s gaze to a message scrawled on a whiteboard in the Hingham locker room. It read: “Game 1 is a MUST!”

“You can see on the board that we’ve been talking about how vital that first game is,” he said. “We’re very aware of what that first game means. Under this format we haven’t had too much success.

“If we can turn the page a little bit this year, that’ll be great.”

Last year Hingham fell behind Xaverian, 3-0, in the first period of the Super Eight opener and never recovered.

“Everyone kind of looked star-struck – first time being on a big stage,” senior goaltender Nate Eagan recalled. “This year we’re hoping it’ll be better because we have a lot more experience.”

The Harbormen have loads of talent. Eagan (1.39 goals-against average, .925 save percentage) has been splendid, and the offense – led by sophomore Tim Driscoll (13 goals) – is balanced.

Hingham also has the memory of Reading’s breakthrough last season, when the Rockets became the first public school champs in the Super Eight’s 18-year history.

“It kind of broke the ice,” senior forward Cam Scullen said. “Look, a public school won it. You can get it done. If you keep your head up and play your system, you can beat anybody.”

About the only negative to Reading’s title was that the Rockets might have stolen the Harbormen’s thunder. After all, many felt that if any public school was going to end the Catholic schools’ stranglehold on the Super Eight, it would be Hingham.

“It would have been nice to be the first public” to win it, Ryan Driscoll acknowledged, “but, still, it doesn’t take away anything (from potentially) winning this year.”

*

Super Eight

The lineup for this year’s Super Eight boys hockey tournament. The eight teams are grouped into two brackets for round-robin play. The top two finishers advance to the crossover (elimination) round, which culminates in the March 15 final at TD Banknorth Garden.

Round-robin games will be played at Merrimack College and Lowell’s Tsongas Arena.

Bracket 1

No. 1 Catholic Memorial (10-4-4)

No. 4 Hingham (15-2-5)

No. 5 Central Catholic (15-0-7)

No. 8 Winchester (15-4-1)

Bracket 2

No. 2 Needham (18-3-1)

No. 3 Malden Catholic (15-3-2)

No. 6 Xaverian (14-4-2)

No. 7 Burlington (17-2-1)

Sunday’s schedule

All games are at Tsongas Arena in Lowell:

1 p.m. – Malden Catholic vs. Xaverian

3:15 p.m. – Catholic Memorial vs. Winchester

5:30 p.m. – Hingham vs. Central Catholic

7:45 p.m. – Needham vs. Burlington

Eric McHugh may be reached at emchugh@ledger.com.

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